the sun shines from all angles

Rise and shine Saturday!

We woke up at the crack of dawn (read: 5:20am) because our apartment we rented out this weekend is a small marathon-distance to the start of the Lululemon SeaWheeze Half Marathon (oops!)

On account of the fact that I didn’t have an arm band (and none of the other girls did) – we all went iPhone-less. It made for a more focused and intimate experience. On our walk to the start line we found a coffee shop. And then the second stop brought us to a Starbucks to get espresso shots and use the restroom one more time (if you know what I mean…). The entire convention area was filled with runners in the most beautiful of attire. All Lululemon. It was chilly, we jumped around to keep warmed up and made jokes about people taking it too seriously… until that morning Molly wasn’t even going to run with us! I’m so glad all 5 got on the bandwagon. Threw on some teal crops and some running shoes, downed an espresso shot and took the bull by the horns!

The starting gun went off and into the Vancouver city-life we went. Tons of people cheering. Over bridges, up hills into neighborhoods. A good couple miles were spent running along a cement wall that bordered an inlet of the ocean. What an unbelievably beautiful run! We laughed and enjoyed ourselves. There’s one image of us floating around during the race – mid-run, that someone else took… and I’d rather it stay hidden on account of the fact that we all look drained and depleted of happiness – which wasn’t true! It was just taken at an unfortunate moment….!

At the finish line, we received a whole bunch of swag goodies. Some of these items went right up on eBay for the diehard fanatics… SkullCandy EarBuds ($21), a wooden finishers medal ($18), a canvas SeaWheeze tote ($23).

We munched on post-run treats like baby quiche, a warm waffle, and fresh fruit. Drank some coconut water and stretched out our calves. The slow walk back to the apartment took place on E. Hastings Street (you know the one…) – so thankfully, we kept our shoes tied and securely on our feet, for fear of stepping on a syringe.

We showered before we took naps… well, some of us did. Others just fell right onto the sofa and were fast asleep before it was their turn. #sweatycushions

We celebrated with Strongbow Cider and dark chocolate. Some of us wore compression socks because it’s a guilty pleasure after a long run. These are from Pro Compression in hot pink and yellow (get on their email list, typically they have 40% off and free shipping on a certain style each month!)

It’s an interesting thing to be spending a period of time in someone else’s home. The owner is a doctor and travels all over the world, he might even be a professor. The bookshelves near the master bed where we all piled in to play games and giggle looked something like this the whole weekend…

And his freezer looked similar to this…. the beverage of champions.

We napped, played games, had some drinks and giggled the rest of the afternoon away. Towards evening, we decided to dress up and head out for the night. My hair was something similar to The Princess Bride, up and off my neck, braided and wrapped in a loop.

An elevator shot of the group gives you an idea of how cool my friends are… wannabe Spice Girls anyone??

We found a little French dining hotspot on OpenTable called Tableau Bar & Bistro. The menus were beautiful (I’m a font lover), and we ordered drinks all around followed by a small party foul of spillage on the menu. We cheers to our beautiful day and a great evening of laughter and friends.

The appetizer we started with was some special avocado asparagus egg roll thing – divine. I ordered the Pappardelle & Mushroom Pastra – also divine.

For dessert we decided to walk our fullness off towards the gelato spot I remembered from last year’s SeaWheeze. We passed the Fairmont and had a moment of silence once more (that’s what you would do, right mama??)

Bella Gelateria always has a line out front. We’re 20 people back from the front door and it’s moving ssllooowwwwwwwww…. but that’s okay! A good 40 minutes later, we’re in the front door, placing our orders with mouthes watering. This gorgeous gentleman didn’t speak much English, and that’s okay… all I needed him to do was scoop the Salted Chocolate Gelato onto that cone and give me a smirk to make my lady parts quiver.

To die for. Unbelievably delicious. And expensive, but well worth it. We cheers’ed (again) to a beautiful run in a beautiful city. Our walk back to the apartment was met with a skyline to suit the Gods.